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Warm, fresh spring air filled the room, coming inside through the open window, ruffling the curtain, mixing with the scent of melted wax. The chirping of birds outside created a lovely melody as it combined with the soft sounds of a vinyl record player in the corner. The whole living room was neatly cleaned up, no mess anywhere, besides this one spot. There on the sofa two men sat close to each other, a table overcrowded with stuff in front of them. A thick layer of newspapers was covering its whole length to protect the wood from staining, about a dozen jars with brightly colored liquids standing on top of it together with packets of glitter, stickers, and wax of all kinds. An almost empty bowl of sweets there in the middle with two cups, which were once full of tea next to it.
“...so, you know, I went to have that coffee with my sis yesterday. And we´re talking, catching up and all that jazz, and she started telling me about how her date with Constanze went and at that moment- Is that a black egg? Baby, we made a deal, no eggs like this,” the blond gasped overdramatically as he noticed the pitch black egg in his boyfriend's hand, matching the color of his nails perfectly. He pretended to be scandalized, before putting on a very fake upset expression. “Unbelievable, not keeping your promise like this. Shame on you.”
Salieri didn't bother to answer that, only making a quiet annoyed grumble as he shrugged it off. Instead of taking the glitter Mozart was trying to push into his hand, he reached for a nearby wax pen and silently began drawing something on top of his creation. That seemed to stop his partner´s complaints, but only for a short moment as he waited to see where this would go.
“It's spring, love, time to fill the house with colors. You can have your blacks for the rest of the year, alright? Just cooper- That's a knife. You´re drawing a knife on the egg. God, you´re impossible,” Wolfgang began laughing all high pitched, shaking his head. “So damn ridiculous. And this is exactly why I love you,” he added, pressing a sweet kiss onto his cheek.
“Ridiculous, tsk. I´m not the one looking like I swam in a rainbow,” Salieri muttered as he rolled his eyes, concentrating on his detailed work, being extremely precise with the fine dagger he was drawing. He even stuck the tip of his tongue out, he was that focused. Unlike Mozart´s hands, his were completely clean, he avoided getting even a droplet of colorant on himself while his boyfriend had specks of it up to his elbows and even on his face. The main reason behind that being that his hands were also extremely steady, while the younger one vibrated next to him, having chugged a whole energy before they started this. Because of course he hasn't gone to bed at a reasonable hour, as usual.
“I told you, it's spring, there should be colors everywhere! What a boring world it would be if all was black and white the whole time. Embrace it! Color the world! And us, and our clothes, and the floor… And the sofa,” Wolfgang argued. He may have made a bit of a mess but who cared, it was a pretty mess. His fingers almost looked like some kind of candy. He was honestly tempted to lick them. He almost did, stopping with his tongue an inch from his pinkie at Antonio's soft: “Don't.”
“Gosh, you're such a bore sometimes.”
They fell into comfortable silence then for a while, working on the eggs, the basket in the middle of the table slowly filling up with finished ones. Mozart´s were not unlike what a kindergartener would make if one let them go wild with any supplies they desired. Salieri´s on the other hand were all muted colors, decorated with neat wax designs. He may not be allowed purely black ones, but nothing had been said about almost black ones.
“Remember last year? When you showed up in front of my door with a bowlful of eggs. You looked as if you had run into a paint store and got about every bucket there knocked on you,” the older man broke the silence, smiling slightly, being very fond of that memory. He had always been alone during Easter until that point and suddenly this loud little man was at his doorstep, insisting they spend the holiday together. “Can't leave a neighbor all by himself on such a pretty day,” he recalled him saying. Mozart tried to pull him into shared activities before that, pretty much ever since he moved into their apartment complex. He never understood why. What was so interesting about him to the other? He kept saying no to him but slowly the blond managed to break down his walls, getting him to let him in.
“You said you were pretty sure you´d eaten some of the colorant. And I begged you not to barf on my carpet when you got inside.” It had seemed like a ridiculous one-off thing to him back then, a way to finally stop the younger man from coming over. Because surely Mozart would find him boring and would never come back. But that wasn't the case, the exact opposite happened. They kept meeting again and again and eventually they became a thing. He would have never expected them to start dating, for this, sometimes almost annoyingly bright, sunshine to stay in his life. “You had the audacity to take one look around my place and proclaim I could use some color in my life anyway.”
“But I didn´t barf on your carpet, so you have nothing to complain about. And was I wrong? No, no I wasn't. And nothing changed, I still think that. That's why you have me here now,” Mozart grinned brightly, pretty much beaming with joy. “Now, how about you be a good boyfriend and at least put some glitter on those emo eggs of yours, hm? I will give you a reward later if you do,” he teased Antonio, giving him a kiss on the other cheek.
Now Salieri could hardly resist that. “Not playing fair,” he huffed as he reached for one of the packets, sprinkling just a tiny bit onto the egg he was currently holding. Actually, it didn't look that bad, he sort of liked it. Maybe he could add some to the rest too.
They kept at this for almost another hour, Antonio getting up as they were nearing the end to fetch them both a fresh cup of sweet tea and something to snack on as well, getting a bit hungry by now, their bowl of sweets long empty. He could make them a proper lunch, but why not spoil themselves, it was Sunday after all. And besides, this way they would get rid of all the chocolates they had bought a few days ago. They'd gotten an unreasonable amount of them just because they were on sale and also because as Mozart kept repeating: “But look at the packaging! It's so cute. We can't leave it here with the little chicks looking at us like this!” And also Salieri could never say no to more sweets in his life.
Coming back, he put everything on the cleanest part of the table, looking at their nearly finished work with a pleased smile. One that disappeared the moment he took his eyes off of the eggs and glanced at his boyfriend. “Wolfgang, why are your lips stained blue and why is there glitter on them?” he asked, raising his eyebrow, fairly certain the other didn't wear lipstick today, let alone a blue one. “You didn't drink the dye, right? You didn't just do that.” God, he was dating an actual child, wasn't he?
“In my defense, it looked really refreshing. And it didn't taste that bad. Would be better without the vinegar though, not gonna lie,” the blond chuckled, sheepish expression sitting on his face. “It was just a sip, alright? I was just curious.” He mildly regretted it because the strange tangy taste stuck to his tongue now, but he wasn't about to admit that.
“I just went to get us tea. You couldn't have waited two minutes, could you have?” Salieri sighed heavily, rubbing his face as he flopped back down onto the couch. “Don´t you dare barf on my carpet, you idiot.”
“Well you could use some color in your life.” Mozart giggled and Antonio just prayed that this wouldn't become a yearly tradition.
It would.